Solomon Kane - Rattle of Bones

Robert E. Howard's story “Rattle of Bones” was first published in Weird Tales in the June 1929 issue. The story was also printed in Skull-Face and Others, Magazine of Horror #11, Red Shadows, and a host of collections by the likes of Wildside Press, Del Rey, Bantam, and Baen. The story was adapted to comic form in the Savage Sword of Conan #18. 

“Rattle of Bones” features Howard's Puritan hero Solomon Kane. In the Black Forest of Germany, both Kane and a man named Gaston L'Armon stop for the night at the Cleft Skull Inn. After the bartender's strange behavior, Kane advises Gaston that they should bar the door to their room. While searching for something to secure the door with L'Armon discovers the skeleton of a man. One of the legs is shackled to the floor. Something is amiss in the strange Cleft Skull Inn.

This is a very simple but effective story. Kane discovers that he knows L'Armon from somewhere else. As the two investigate the skeleton, Kane is held at gunpoint by an assailant. I can't tell you too much more due to spoilers. “Rattle of Bones” is a mere eight pages, so anything else would disrupt your enjoyment of Howard's writing. Thus far, this is my least favorite of the Solomon Kane stories I've read, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing considering how much I enjoy this series. Every installment has been entertaining. Get it HERE.

Note - Howard's first draft was published in the first issue of The Robert E. Howard Foundation Newsletter in Spring of 2007. That version apparently has a different ending.